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With back-to-school season in full swing across the nation, parents in Oregon have more to worry about than shopping for sweaters and purchasing pencils. In the state of Oregon, the Obamacare mandate, which went into effect on August 1, 2012, provides free sterilizations to girls as young as fifteen. Now, your daughter, your high school freshman, can choose, without your consent, to be permanently sterilized. Continue Reading

61 - 70 of 123 Comments

Beth

2 years ago

This is a disturbing trend even for those over 18. I remember a news story a few years ago about a marked increase in the number of childless young men having vasectomies. Their rationale was that they "knew" they would never want children. And I remember thinking not only how terribly sad to feel that way at such a young age, but how terribly unethical of the doctors to accept payment and perform such a procedure, taking a perfectly healthy bodily function in a person so young and destroying it - probably forever. And for what? To give the patient the opportunity for more casual sex? What an empty and unworthy goal. In the name of "choice" and "autonomy", we have forsaken basic ethics and common sense. Too bad those doctors (most of whom are probably male, and older than these young men) didn't instead choose to give their patients some good advice instead of an unnecessary, harmful and potentially irreversible medical procedure. Of course, if our current trends continue, doctors who are capable of performing vasectomies will probably be required to do so on demand - whether they feel it is ethical or not.

Rob

2 years ago

Judy, unfortunately we have two generations now that have gone by without good parenting. On one side you have parents whose only thought is the big house, cars etc and on the other side you've got poverty, drug abuse etc. I agree with all the sentiments on this board that a 15 year old has no business having this right and I have no idea what the State of Oregon was thinking, but sadly so many people in this age group have no guidance.

I have often said that one of the problems we catholics have is that we've forgotten that we have a call to evangelize. But lately it seems that we merely want to hide in our churches and evangelize the evangelized. Heck we are so busy trying to divide and eject folks in our own house that we can't possibly unite to do anything. While we have many good Catholic organizations on the ground helping people, by and large the people in the pews do nothing. The world is crumbling around us and the best we can do is vote in the hope that something changes. This world will not change until we heed one of the most basic calls of the gospel. We have the power to change the world in a way that no politician ever can. But if we insist on keeping our light under a barrel, well that is where it will stay and the darkness will continue to grow.

Judy Claar

2 years ago

How many of you thought you knew what you wanted to do at age 15-20 yr.?
And how many, of this age group actually followed through with that original idea for life?
How many of you thought that you were completely grown-up at this age?
And how many of you at that age, can honestly say that you were?
How many of you really knew who you were and really knew your own mind?

Now think of how many HS drop outs there are. How many kids there are that can not read past the 8th grade level. Let alone do the math and sciences. Our country is ranked #25 in world education. Nothing to be proud of. We have fallen dramatically. Let us ask ourselves why?
Of course there is a percentage of us who do know our minds at 18. But that is not the majority. How many young people in college change majors. And how many times?
How many children today live at home past the age of 18? And return? And for how long?
I say this to show how dramatically our country has changed. Children do not reach adulthood now, at the same age their parents and grandparents did. It was a different world Environment then. It is a different world Environment now.
Knowing these facts, it is a sin in more ways than one. Blessings...

Rob

2 years ago

Mark, I think JoAnn is the sole person on these boards who parishes tackle these issues. I've been thinking a lot about what a parish should be doing.

Seems to me if the parish works hard on evangelization and conversion, has strong programs to support marriage (both pre-marriage and ongoing support), has vibrant men's, women's and teen programs, you end up teaching in a manner where these things just aren't an issue. A disciple of Christ is not going to look for sterilization services.

Our problem isn't so much the USCCB, silent pastors but luke warm unconverted Catholics. Sure, they contribute to the problem, but folks who aren't following the Lord in the first place have no reference point for any of this. It's easy for them to accept the societal norm.

David G. Michael

2 years ago

Well lets see, here in America we already have a holocaust of abortion which has cost the lives of 50 million unborn babies murdered in the womb. Now thru Obamacare they want to steralize our youth from age 15 thru 20 with their consent and no parents involved. And it looks as if there will be no health care for seniors. We are re-living Nazi Germany all over again here in America. We are headed right into another holocaust for all of us because of Obama and his gang. It is time for the churchs to speak out boldly against all of this and forget about all this separation of church and state which is just another lie anyway.

JoAnn

2 years ago

Mark Frederick: I hear about it all the time. My parish is very up-to-date on all the issues. God bless.

Mark Frederick

2 years ago

Well, USCCB wanted Obamacare. Note there has been NO direction to Catholic businesses on how to proceed now; too busy sending invites to Al Smith dinner- at least in NY. Pastors silent on this. Anyone heard much about it at your Parish?

Nick L

2 years ago

That Oregon (and others) allow self sterilization by minors without parental consent isn't the point. It was morally unbalanced of Oregon to expect a minor to have the maturity to make a lifelong decision to sterilize, but *not* have the maturity to make a decision to get a tattoo.

But aside from that, the bigger picture is that Obama and Co. are attempting to nationalize that imbalance by codifying it into federal law.

As a country, are you really ready to put that kind of decision making in the hands of minors? Is there really enough justification to do so? Are you aware where your government is taking your family and heirs?

Serena

2 years ago

So many of you are overreacting. Do you seriously think most teenagers plan to be sterilized? Even if they're having sex, typically teens will use birth control pills or condoms as contraception. It is an extremely small minority that will actually undergo a medical surgery to be sterilized so young! Personally I think the age should be increased to 21 to decide if one wants to be sterilized.

Leah Greenwood

2 years ago

This article is very misleading. The issue at hand has to do with States that allow for minors to provide their own consent (without parental consent) for contraceptive services. That includes a wide range of services. Oregon is just one of the 25 states that allows minors to have explicit control of their contraceptive decisions. Here is a link with the states.
http://www.guttmacher.org/graphics/gr030406_f1.html

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